CES 2019: We take a ride in the Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic concept

January 8, 2019

Transcript

[MUSIC]
We see two different kinds of autonomous vehicles at CES in Las Vegas, those that deliver people and those that deliver things.
While Mercedes Benz has combined the two in its concept of urbanetic, and what better way to get a ride in it than on the famous Las Vegas strip.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
Now, we've seen autonomous and electric concepts before.
That's really nothing new, but here's where the Urbanetic is different.
It consists of an autonomous platform, and then there's interchangable modules.
Individuals, so there's one for cargo, and there's one for people, like the one I'm in right here.
And without any kind of driving apparatus, steering wheel, brakes, passenger driver seats, this thing is huge.
There is room for 12 12 people in here.
And I'm all by myself.
This place is bigger than my apartment.
And naturally this thing is connected to real-time traffic alerts, as well as local events.
So let's say that the game just got out.
The [UNKNOWN] fleet can send itself to the stadium in anticipation of increased demand.
But no word if that's gonna include any kind of surge pricing.
And since people are a little leery of autonomous vehicles, the [INAUDIBLE] can communicate with people outside of the vehicle through the panels on the front and on the side.
So think of it as when you're a pedestrian, you want to make eye contact with that driver before you step off the curb People outside of this vehicle want to make sure that the Urbanetic actually sees them.
Now, this is just a concept, so I don't have any specs for you in terms of batteries, or range, or anything like that.
In fact I highly doubt that this is ever gonna to come to market, but it really is an ingenious way using these two modules, in a single platform.
It's an ingenious way of getting the maximum efficiency out of one vehicle.
Plus, it looks hell-a cool.
I mean I just want to kick back right here, and watch sights of the Las Vegas strip go live.
The Urbanetic can run 24-7-365.
So it can offer a lot more delivery options for those of us that might be a little bit addicted to Amazon Prime.
After all, it's got 353 cubic feet of space when it's got the cargo module.
And it can also solve your commute problems with room for 12 people.
And both of those solutions are driver and pollution free.
[MUSIC]
[BLANK_AUDIO]